Casing-pulling device



G. W. CARTER AND R BYHAYDEN.

CASING PULLING DEVICE.

' APPL c 1,418,533.

Patented June 6, l1922;

2SHEETS SHEET l.

. J/ MMIII" -G. w. CAHIER AND-R B HAYDEN.

CASING PULLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 24'. 1920.

ranma-Junge, 1922..

Ihi v 40 such tenacity'as jecting lip, and apivoted dog carried-by the vefEoiwfEw. ciaa'iinr.` ANDE E rrAYnE'N, 0E SAN A.':i'rerEi-io; TEXAS. l,

" cAsINer-EULMNG DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. f `1331391115ed 'Jn 6, 1922,.:

Apncatioalea september 24,1920. sefiaiivo.142,477.5k f

To all whom it may' con-cern.' v

Be it known that we, GEORGE lV. CARTER and R B HAYDEN, both citizens Aof, vthe United States, residing at San'Angelo in the county of Tom Green andy Statel of Texas, have invented acertain lnew and useful Improvement in Casing-Pulling De vices, of which the following "is a full, clear, and exact description.

In removing the casings from wells, par

ticularly oil-wells, considerable difficulty is encountered, `due in partto the tenacity rwith which the casing adheres to the earth surrounding it and the concrete-.used in joining the sections of casing of different diameters, and in part to Isections'of the casing becoming out ofv line; and the'need of-a practical device forpulling such casings has long been felt. 'f s y i Due tothe greatdepth of wells, andthe restricted space in which operations must be carried on, and the impossibility of observing such 4operations at appreciable depths, a casing pulling device, to be .practical, must be of the simplest possible-construction; offew parts, compact, strong and durable; and, moreover, it must be provided with means, which, should it be incapable of raising` the casing once the device is in operative position, will effect its disengage;

ment Ifrom'the casing and permit of its be"- ing raised to the surface.

One yobjectl lof this invention is, therefore, to'provide a casing pulling device of simple, compact and ,durable construction, of .such conformation astwill permit of its being loweredv into a well casing without being obstructed in its".l descent `by irregularities or bends in the casing, and which will, when in operative position, engage the casing with to insure its proper operation.

. vAnother object is to provide the vdevicev withy mechanism operable through devices controlled from the surface, whereby the device may be rendered inoperative and its recovery made possible. v-

Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in a casing pulling device comprising a housing provided with a prohousing and adapted when in operative position to force said lip intov intimate opera.-

tive engagement with the interior wallof` nism. l

erative position wholly fwithinthe' `housing "i 1 and finally claimed.

,In the. accompanying `drawings illustrating the inventiomin the several figures of i which like parts 'are' similarly'designated,

Figure l/'is an elevation of the device look? ingat the side carrying the trip mechanism.

Fig. 2` is a partial longitudinal,vertical sec# tion, taken -1n a-plane at rightmangles .to Fig. 1, showing the parts in inoperativel positlon. u Fig. 3 is a vlewsimilar to Fig. 2 but showing the partsl rin g operative positioni Fig. 4 is a topivie'w of.' they device.. Figs. 5, 6 andfl are views showing variousl steps in the operation of the `device 'within a wellv casing. Fig. 8`illustrates a preferred form of messengerfor yactuating the trip mecha- They devicecomprise's essentially a lions-'2.v

ing v1 made preferably of some tough, heavy metal, 'prefi-:rablyy cylindrical' in fo'rm vand having its lower or leading end-tapered t0,

a conical vpoint 2, its oppositeif'end being shouldered as at 3, for. anpurposelatervap-r pearing, and preferably terminating` in a frusto-conical extension 4' carryingy l.an eye 5 orl other meansby vwhich 1t may be. susf pended from a suitable cable. ,Itliwill be seen that bym'aking the devicevin this form, all projectionswhich might impedeit when being lowered .into a well casing', are re-v moved and asmooth lsurface lisfpresented.,`

AdjacentIv thelower lend ofs the .housing l is mounted a lip 6, made preferably-fof hardened tool steel, vits attachinggportion 7 being here shown as of 'dovetail formation Y and seateclin a complemental recessin the housingfvvith a tight' preSs fitto` prevent` i its unwarranted detachment therefrom.`

The housing is lformedfwith a diametri: callyv arranged` slot 8 extending through-.it

ino

from faceto face, and yin this slot is-pivoteg 'v ally `mountedwon -a lbearingscrew 9 yav dogv 10 providedfwfithl a pluralityof teeth 11,-` y

more particularlydescribed hereinafter. It

will be observed, by "referencev particularly to Fig. 2 that the pivot 9 -of the dog lOgisv soarranged that the do'g'has, at alltimes, a tendency to drop to the position shown'in Fig. 3, andl also that the base-=12ofthe Slot 8 is of su'chshape that, when; the fdogisil inoperative position, any foreign. matterf tend to pass out of the slot and prevent fouling thereof and of the dog. j

Mounted in suitable guides '13, Vhere shown as tongue and groove guides, is a latch plate 14 provided with a .slot 15 the ends otwhich' cooperate with v.a st ud16 to limit ,the vertical movement oftheplate, and this stud is surrounded by a vhelical Vspring 17 mounted in a recess 18 in the housing 1, one of its ends vbearing against ,the base ot' this recess and the other against the inner tace 'of the i latch plate-adjacent the slot to offer trictional resistance tothe movement ot the plate so that it will remain in adjusted position and will not drop of its own weight. The plate 14 is set in from `the rperiphery of the housing, as vshow-n, so that it will not contact with 4the'casing wall and i.be injured or impeded in its operation thereby.`

AS shown in Fig'. 3,@when the dogis Lin operative position, .the plate 14 is raised, and

its lower end just clears .a lug 19 .on the dogv 10, and the thrust of the dog is taken by the bottom wall of the slot-Sand whenrpre'ssure isl appliedvto the upper end of the latch plate, as will be later described, this pressure will be communicated to the lug 19 j through .the lower end of 'the plate 14Yand will move the dogto theposition shown in Fig. 2 and hold it in such position, as will be obvious.l This latch plate and ylug willv be hereinafter referred to' as the trip mechayIt will'be noted that theslot -8 is con- Siderably-longer than required tor the dog shown. Thisfadditional length ot slot is provided so that dogs of greater length than that shownmay be used, as may also dogs of less length, so thatbyv replacing dogs the de vice may be adapted to casings of all customary diameters. y

As shown, the lip 6 is provided' with concave' face and has its Icasi-ng engaging bles are used, the drilling cableand the slush-bucket cable, and in operating our de'- vice we make use of both cables.

When it is desired to raise the well casing herein indicated' at 20, weattach the pulling .device'tothe drilling! cable 21 by means ot the reye 5` in any'suitable way.` Then the latch plate 14 isset in the position. illustrated in- Fig. 3 which position permits ci treepivotal action of the dog 10. The device is then: lowered inthe casing., the dog being free toi slide along the'wall thereoia asy indicated inlg 5, no matter lio-w close to o r how far from the wall of the casing the device may swing. Then vsuch a depth in the well is reached, as may be ascertained by reference to the log of the well, that the device will be in that part of the casing which .it is `desired to pull, the cable 21 is hoisted. 'This hoisting of the cable pulls 'upward upon the ydevice and @causes the teeth ot the dog to engage the inner wall of the casing, and by the lever action of `the dog forces 'the device diametrically across the casing and causes` the 'lip 6 to dig into the wall et the casing, as illustrated in Fig.. 6. It will -be obvious that further hoisting ot' the-cable will carry with it that section of the casing engaged Aby the device. y

It it Should become apparent that the casing cannot be pulled, but that' -more likely, the cable 2l will part .under the strain, it then becomes necessary to release .the device from the casing. For this purpose we -provide a messenger 22, shown indetail inFig.

8. This messenger comprises a tube 23 proy vided with a serpentine slot 24"which perL mits of thel messenger being threaded vonto the cable 21 so as to have a loose sliding en is lowered along the cable 21 bymeans of the slush-bucket cable 26 until it reaches 'a point slightly above that at whichthe device is located (as shown indotted lines in' Fig.

.gagement therewith, and it is also provided with means,such as a hole 25,by which it 7), then it is allowed to'drop quickly. This l dropping of the messenger will cause` it to to slide over the portion 450i the device and strike upon the upwardly projecting 'endot the latch-plate 14 with sufficient forcerto move it downward as tar as the shoulder ,3, hereinabove. referred to and also cause the lip 6 to become disengaged' from?V the side of the casing and thus allow the device to drop free of the casing, sufficient slack being al-r lowed in the cable 20. for this purpose, and at the same time raise the dog-out of engagement with the wall kof the casing and'into housed position in the housing` 1, and lock it in such position as shown in full lines, Fig.

The messenger 22 is then raisedv to the surface vand detached from the .cableand pulling device is then also raised. 1

It will be apparent from this description that at no time in the operation of our den vice is there more-than one moving cablein the wall casing at a time. l, This is of decided advantage ydue to the fact that as experience f teaches, it is practically impossible-to raise or lower two cables in a well casing .at Lthe same time without having at least 4one yof them become fouled, and where'wire cables are used, and such use is almost universal, fouling of such va ycable .causes 4it to kink v*in such a manneres to be thereafter practically' useless, and hence a considerable financial loss.

` dog is in no wise depended upon for a lifting action, but is merely for the purpose of causing the lip 6 todig into the side of the casing. The teeth of the dog being blunt, thel operation of the trip mechanism, composed of the latch-plate lll and lug 19 of the doo, is facilitated when the messenger 22 stri (es against the projecting end of the latch-plate.

Although we have herein shown and described a particular embodiment of our invention, it is to be understood that we do not consider it as limited thereto, as various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement ci? parts without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims. v

That we claim is p 1. In a casing pulling device, a housing, a lip carried thereby, a dog pivotallymounte ed in said housing, and a trip mechanism.

i yoperated by impact to move said dog toand thereafter lmaintain it in inoperative position. 2. In a casing pulling device, a housing, a

Astationary lip carried thereby, la dog pivotally mounted in said housing andadapted when in operative position to force said lipl into engagement with thel casing, and a trip mechanism adapted to move said dog into .inoperative position and maintain it therein.

3. In a casing pulling device, a housing, means for attaching said'housing to a cable by which it may be raised and lowered in a casing, a lip carried by said housing and adapted to engage the casing, a dog pivotv ally mounted in said housing and adapted when in operative position to force said lip into the wall of said casing, a tripmechanism for moving saiddog into inoperative 5o position, and` means independent of said dejV v l "vice for operating said trip. mechanism.

4. casing pulling device, a housing,

means on said housing whereby it may be suspended from/a cableya single cable at` tached to said-suspendingl means, a lip carried by said housing and'adapted to operatively engage a casing, a dogcarried by said housing and adaptedwhen in operative position to force saidlip into the' wall of ysaidv casing, atrip mechanism comprising a latchf` Y plate carriedr by said housing and avlug carin inoperative position and permit 'of the device being raised fromsaid casing.

5. In a casing pulling device, a housing in, a trip mechanism `comprising a latchl,

plate having a limited ,sliding movement in said slot, and a lug carried by said dog and cooperating with` y,said plate wherebyv wheny said plate is in its elevated position 'said dog is in yoperative position andvwhen said plate is lowered itv will move said dog intoinoperative position and maintain it therein.

ri'ed by said dog, and means independent of said device and adapted to slide on said ca-l ble for opera-ting said trip mechanism to` e5 cause said -dog to move into and be locked,A

6. In acasing. pulling device,a housing, a`

casing engaging lip `carried thereby, a dog pivotally mounted "in said housing and adap-tedy normally y to -project"beyond the same, a latch-plate'slidably vmountedin said housing and cooperating with said dog to move sameintoinoperative position, and a messengerl adapted to strike'upon said plate? y tov move said dog to inoperative position.-

In testimony whereof we have hereunto i setl our hands this 23d day of SeptemberA.

P. WILBR BRoWN, K l-I.'liwiiroiiiia Jr. 

